Monday, February 13, 2012

Farewell

Two gentlemen with strong ties to Ocracoke died recently. On Monday, February 6 Elmo Murray Fulcher, Jr. died at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Although Murray had not lived on Ocracoke recently, he will be remembered by many family and friends. His mother, Lillian Jackson Fulcher, was a native islander, and his father, Elmo Fulcher, Sr., was captain of the Mailboat Aleta in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as a local commercial fisherman. Islanders and visitors from several decades ago will remember when Murray ran the fish house and captained the steel trawler, the She-Don-Di. He was a tireless advocate for commercial fishermen in eastern North Carolina.
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Collage: Elmo Murray Fulcher, Jr.
courtesy Michelle Hawkins

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Charlie Jones died Thursday, February 9, at his home in Michigan. Charlie was one of five children of Sam Jones and Mary Ruth Kelly (see our Ocracoke Newsletter for January, 2011: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news012111.htm). Paul Dickson had this to say about his father-in-law's connection with Ocracoke: "Having spent many summers there growing up, he has fond memories of the island and remembers many of the stories you have been relating via the blog. One of his favorites was the story about the mail boat Aleta which he spent many hours on throughout his visits there....I spent my last visit with him last Sunday reading the Ocracoke Journal to him as I had done many times over the last year or so. It was our special connection "
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I want to thank you for the "In Memoriam"and also for the journal. If you didn't know before how important it is to so many of us, now you do. To me it means l still have something to look forward to even on my worst days.

Thank you for such a touching tribute Phillip. I am pretty sure my father Charlie Jones knew Elmo also. I love the connection both men had to the Aleta. Ocracoke (both the people and the island) were so important to my father and so close to his heart.